1. Field of the Invention
This invention concerns a means by which the dust cover jackets of video tape cassettes, audio tape cassettes and compact disks can be converted to the pleasing and aesthetic appearance of books with quality bindings. A tape is printed with a design to simulate in one portion the appearance of the spine of a book with a quality binding and, in an adjacent portion, with a design to simulate the appearance of the top page edge of the closed said book with a quality binding. By adhering the said tape to the back edge or face and top edge or face of a dust cover jacket, the said jacket is provided the appearance of a closed book with a quality binding.
Any user of video or audio cassette tapes or compact disks amasses a collection of such cassettes or disks to be employed on his video and/or audio equipment in producing pictures and/or sound from the signals stored on the tapes or disks. These cassettes or disks are sold in protective packages which usually provide a cardboard jacket generally parallel piped in shape which is open at one end to permit the insertion of the cassette or disk within the cardboard dust cover. The dust cover jackets are employed for storage of the cassettes or disks when they are not in use. The cardboard dust cover jackets often carry pictures or printing to advertise or illustrate their contents. As a result the cardboard dust cover jackets differ in appearance from one jacket to another, depending on the cassette tape which was in the jacket when it was purchased.
To provide the maximum dust protection, the dust cover jackets are usually faced outward on a storage shelf with their end wall facing the user. The appearance of a number of such jackets on a storage shelf is seldom pleasing, since there is no coordination of appearance. To avoid such a jumbled appearance, closed storage units often are used to store the dust cover jackets and their cassettes or disks, despite the desirability of having the dust cover jackets with their cassettes or disks readily at hand for selection of a particular cassette or disk.
2. Description of the Prior Art
U.S. Pat. No. 4,789,058, issued on Dec. 6, 1988, to Blaney, provides a display means for video cassettes using a jacket with no printing matter on the end wall facing the user. This jacket casing member may be made of a solid colored leatherette material. In the library apparatus of U.S. Pat. No. 4,789,058 the display jacket is preferably made of a solid colored material. This jacket is separate from the dust cover jacket provided with a cassette tape.
In the invention of this disclosure, no new dust cover jacket is required as the decorative tape converts the original dust cover jacket to the appearance of a book in the visible portions of the dust cover jacket. It also should be noted that the tape of this application simulates the top page edge appearance of a book, while the casing display jacket of U.S. Pat. No. 4,789,058 has only a solid colored material over its top edge and does not truly resemble a book in appearance.
Thus, in the past, one either hid his cassettes with their dust cover jackets in a drawer or cabinet with an attractive wood exterior, or one purchased dust cover jackets with a uniform appearance such as is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,789,058. Since the casing of Blaney's invention was substantially free of printing material on the end wall of the casing, a number of such casings did present a uniform aesthetic appearance on a shelf.